The Fall of a Bird
by Lampala
Summary: Scott wakes up in Thunderbird 1, with no idea what has happened or why it is lying at the bottom of the Atlantic. One-shot. TV-Verse.
1. Original Version

**Hello again readers! I am gonna write another multi-chaptered story that I said I was gonna write, by the way, but the plot-bunnies forced me to write this right now instead. Also, I was in a bit of a bad mood and writing or reading about injured Scott makes me feel better. Not sure why though. I'm just evil. So I wrote this. I will try and write more stories but I'm a very slow updater, as you know. Anyway, I'm waffling, so I should just get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned them, there would be a series 3 by now. And a series 4... and a series 5.**

The Fall of a Bird

To say Scott felt terrible would be an understatement. Even if you multiplied terrible by a million, you would probably just about have reached the half-way mark. His head felt like it had been smashed by a psycho with a mallet for several hours and as for the rest of his body... well, don't even get me started on how many broken bones he knew he had.

He lifted his spectacularly sore and bleeding head and took in his surroundings. He could tell he was in Thunderbird 1 (a rather damaged looking Thunderbird 1 at that) and that he was lying on the floor, so he concluded there must have been a crash of some sort.

_Great_, he thought. _Just great. It's always me who has to crash isn't it? It's always my 'bird that gets damaged. _

He looked around Thunderbird 1 and suddenly felt very annoyed and a little upset. There had been a lot of damage done to Thunderbird 1 in the crash. The pilot seat had completely come away from the bulkhead it was supported by and Scott was glad his seat belt had been broken, because otherwise he would have still been under it. Wiring had been ripped from the walls and both the hatches supplying exits from Thunderbird 1 were blocked and twisted, enough to allow water to enter but not enough to let humans out.

Scott reflected that if he was going to ever get out of there alive, he would have to conserve his energy and wait to be rescued. He didn't like waiting, particularly when he couldn't remember what had happened and wanted to know. This, combined with the pain from his battered body, didn't put him in the best of moods, especially since his day had started so well.

_Wait, I just remembered..._

Suddenly, memories of the day flooded back and he clutched his head, overwhelmed.

* * *

_"Base from Thunderbird 1. Leaving the Danger Zone now," Scott reported, as he strapped himself in and lifted Thunderbird 1 from the ground._

_"Well done, Scott. You've all done a great job today," Jeff replied._

_Scott smiled, knowing his father was right. It had been a routine mission and there had been no fatalities. Sure, a few people had been injured and a school had blown up, but not seriously and he expected most of the school-children were looking forward to the time off. There had been nothing a bit of money couldn't fix and it had been one of International Rescue's most successful rescues. That didn't mean Scott wasn't looking forward to going home, though._

_He set the controls and gained height. Soon he would be flying back over the Atlantic Ocean, taking a detour back to Tracy Island, in the Pacific Ocean. He hummed gently, watching the sky through the monitor in front of him and keeping a firm hand on his controls._

_Scott was about to tell his father that he had reached the Atlantic, when the cold barrel of a gun was pressed against his head. He held his breath as a heavily accented voice called, "Do not move!"_

_

* * *

_

_The stranger cuffed Scott on the head for what felt like the millionth time._

_"You will do as I say, or I will shoot you," he demanded._

_"No," Scott refused. "I'm not going to let you."_

_"Fine, then," the stranger agreed calmly, much to the surprise of Scott. "I'm just going to have to do a deal with your family. I'm sure they'd just _die_ for the chance to give me the secrets of International Rescue, in return for you. Then I could kill you all and be the richest man alive."_

_"If you even lay a finger on my family..." Scott started angrily, but was cut off by one of the stranger's evil laughs._

_"Yes, you'll kill me. I know that speech. But, answer me this, Scott Tracy. How are you going to do that when you're dead?" He let out another malicious laugh. He never got to finish this, however, for Scott had seen his chance and taken it. He turned around and lunged at the stranger, trying to knock him out, but he had seen this coming and blocked his attack. He then, before Scott had time to recover, brought his gun down on his opponent's head._

_Scott promptly slumped forward and passed out._

_

* * *

_

_"Scott, come in! Thunderbird 1, do you read me?!" was the first thing Scott heard as he came to. He lifted his head up groggily and, on realising that the stranger had disappeared, called Virgil, looking around the cabin for any immediate dangers. He soon found one. _

_"Oh, thank God, Scott!" Virgil cried. "We've been trying to contact you for ages! What happened to you?"_

_"Sorry, Virg, but I can't discuss this with you now. Thunderbird 1's on a colossal dive into the ocean." He heard the silence on the other end as compliance to his wishes._

_Scott could feel the G-forces as his 'bird nose-dived towards the Ocean and frantically got to work trying to get her out of the dive. Just as he thought he was getting somewhere, he looked at the monitor. His blood ran cold at the sight of the two projectiles coming straight for him._

_"Missiles." _

_

* * *

_

Scott groaned as he remembered the impact. Needless to say, it hadn't been too pretty. The initial explosion had damaged nearly everything in the ship, especially the nose cone, which the missiles had hit first. Scott had been right behind it too, and had found himself thrown across the cabin. Whacking his head against a wall, he had passed out, as Thunderbird 1 had, literally, dropped into the ocean. This had caused an even larger explosion, damaging and, in some cases destroying, everything on the ship.

Scott pushed himself up against the wall, trying to get into a more comfortable position. It didn't really help, but at least he was sitting up. He looked over to the hatch the water was seeping in from and checked the water level. It wasn't dangerously high yet, but soon he would be wet and he knew he had to keep checking it. He then checked himself over for injuries. He knew he must have hit his head from the massive killer of a headache it was giving him, and that he had broken his left leg and arm, but he couldn't tell if he had any broken ribs or if he had any internal injuries.

Trying not to aggravate any of his injuries, Scott slowly moved his arm towards his face and said in a quiet voice, "Base from Scott Tracy. Come in please." Unfortunately, this only gave him a coughing fit and not a reply. Probably broken ribs, then.

As the hours slipped by like seconds, he could feel himself becoming more exhausted and the world beginning to spin. Scott knew he probably wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer, but he battled the fatigue nonetheless, knowing that if he went to sleep he might never wake again...

_

* * *

_

From the moment Scott woke up, he knew something was different. For a start, it was light and warm now; it had been dark and freezing cold in Thunderbird 1. He was lying on a comfortable bed now, with sheets covering him, and not lying on a cold metal floor. He had what felt like an oxygen mask over his face and was finding it much easier to breathe. All the pain had gone too, except for a light headache. He could hear the heart monitor beeping in time to his heart and he listened to it for a few minutes.

He was interrupted as he heard a door open and someone walk in angrily. Scott initially thought it was Alan, as he was the most hot-headed of the family. He quickly felt very guilty, however, when he realised it wasn't his youngest brother, but Virgil.

"One of these days, Scott! One of these days, I'm gonna kill him! I really am!"

Unable to contain his curiosity and wondering what Gordon's latest prank was, Scott opened his eyes blearily. Even though his vision was foggy somewhat, he could see his brother perfectly and found he couldn't contain his laughter. Virgil's hair had changed from its usual chestnut brown to a baby pink. He burst out laughing. Virgil's eyes widened as he ran up to Scott.

"You're awake!" he said, grinning madly.

"Yep," Scott managed to gasp between laughs. Virgil soon joined in, very relieved and glad his brother had woken up.

Once the two men had managed to get a grip on themselves and stopped their laughing, Virgil realised something.

"I'd better get Brains and Dad. They'll want to know..."

"Know what, son?" Jeff asked, on walking into the room. His eyes widened when he saw Scott. "Scott, you're awake," he stated with a grin. He strided across to beside Scott's bed and sat on the seat next to it.

"Last time I looked," Scott said, smiling.

"So, h-how are y-y-you, uh, feeling now, Scott?" Brains stuttered from across the room. Scott hadn't even realised he was there.

"I'm fine," Scott said dismissively. Jeff and Virgil both gave him disbelieving looks.

"Okay, okay. I have a a bit of a headache. But, that's all."

"The painkillers must have been stronger than we thought, then," Jeff said, a frown forming on his features.

"What d'ya mean?"

"Well, you were pretty badly bashed about in that crash," Virgil explained, motioning to the bandages, which Scott hadn't noticed until now, that were covering most of his body. "You broke several bones in your left arm and leg; gained quite a few burns from the explosion; broke four ribs, cracked your skull and your collarbone..."

"Okay, Virgil. Scott gets the picture," Jeff interrupted, giving his eldest son a sparing glance. Scott smiled gratefully in return. Virgil would have probably gone on for hours otherwise.

"Sorry," Virgil apologised. "I guess I'm just glad we found you in time."

"Yeah, me too," Scott agreed. "So, how's Thunderbird 1?"

Jeff and Virgil glanced at each other a uncomfortably. This was what they had been dreading: having to tell Scott about the damage to Thunderbird 1.

"Well..."

* * *

Outside, lounging beside the pool, were Alan, Gordon and Tin Tin. It was quiet and peaceful with the exception of a tropical bird chirping from a nearby tree. The Sun was shining brightly, warming them and lightening their moods at such a time. They were all extremely worried about Scott but glad of the rest and relaxation.

Suddenly, they heard a yell from one of the rooms in the Tracy Villa.

"WHAT?!"

Alan and Tin Tin jumped from their deck chairs in surprise and looked at each other.

"I think our eldest brother is awake," Gordon stated.

"Yeah," Alan agreed. "And by the sounds of it, he's heard what happened to Thunderbird 1."

**I wanted to end this on a light note, as it started out a bit gloomy, and I imagine that Scott would have been a weensy bit upset if he found out that Thunderbird 1 had been damaged really badly.**

**By the way, if anyone didn't understand, the 'stranger' sneaks on board Thunderbird 1 and jumps off while Scott was unconscious. He owns a boat in the Atlantic with missiles on and fires them at Scott. Confusing, I know, but he did plan the whole thing in advance. Guess who the 'stranger' was?**

**I hope you enjoyed this story and review if you liked it or didn't. I don't mind if you say you didn't, 'cos it all helps to improve.**

**Lulu303**


	2. Modified Version

**Hello! You're probably wondering why I've modified this and put it as a second chapter. Well, I wanted to make it a bit more believable and add some of the rescue in, but I figured some of you might have liked the old version as well and you can see what I've changed, so this is my edited version. I've left some of the bits I liked exactly the same, I've changed some and I've completely emitted and added other things. I hope you like it.**

The Fall of a Bird

To say Scott felt terrible would be an understatement. Even if you multiplied terrible by a million, you would probably just about have reached the half-way mark. His head felt like it had been smashed by a psycho with a mallet for several hours and as for the rest of his body... well, don't even get me started on how many broken bones he knew he had.

He lifted his spectacularly sore and bleeding head and took in his surroundings. He could tell he was in Thunderbird 1 (a rather damaged looking Thunderbird 1 at that) and that he was lying on the floor, so he concluded there must have been a crash of some sort.

_Great_, he thought. _Just great. It's always me who has to crash isn't it? It's always my 'bird that gets damaged. _

He looked around Thunderbird 1 and suddenly felt very annoyed and a little upset. There had been a lot of damage done to Thunderbird 1 in the crash. The pilot seat had completely come away from the bulkhead it was supported by and Scott was glad his seat belt had been broken, because otherwise he would have still been under it. Wiring had been ripped from the walls and both the hatches supplying exits from Thunderbird 1 were blocked and twisted, enough to allow water to enter but not enough to let humans out.

Scott reflected that if he was going to ever get out of there alive, he would have to conserve his energy and wait to be rescued. He didn't like waiting, particularly when he couldn't remember what had happened and wanted to know. This, combined with the pain from his battered body, didn't put him in the best of moods, especially since his day had started so well.

_Wait, I just remembered..._

Suddenly, memories of the day flooded back and he clutched his head, overwhelmed.

* * *

_"Base from Thunderbird 1. Leaving the Danger Zone now," Scott reported, as he strapped himself in and lifted Thunderbird 1 from the ground._

_"Well done, Scott. You've all done a great job today," Jeff replied._

_Scott smiled, knowing his father was right. It had been a routine mission and there had been no fatalities. Sure, a few people had been injured and a school had blown up, but not seriously and he expected most of the school-children were looking forward to the time off. There had been nothing a bit of money couldn't fix and it had been one of International Rescue's most successful rescues. That didn't mean Scott wasn't looking forward to going home, though. His brothers had probably already arrived there, seeing as they had set off a while before him, and he didn't want them eating all of the food._

_He set the controls and gained height. Soon he would be flying back over the Atlantic Ocean, taking a detour back to Tracy Island, in the Pacific Ocean. He hummed gently, watching the sky through the monitor in front of him and keeping a firm hand on his controls._

_Scott was about to tell his father that he had reached the Atlantic, when he heard a voice over the radio cry, "Stay very still, Scott Tracy!"_

* * *

_Scott held his breath as the heavily accented man continued._

_"You will not fly towards your secret base, but will instead turn your ship around and fly to my co-ordinates. If you refuse, I will not hesitate to shoot you down! I have missiles on my ship."_

_Scott thought for a few seconds. The man could have been bluffing; after all, he couldn't even see where he was. If Scott turned and followed the man's instructions, the secrets of International Rescue would be known to the world and he would most likely be held to ransom. The man would ask for all the plans to the Thunderbirds and Scott knew he wouldn't be using them for good purposes. _

_No, Scott couldn't hand himself and his craft over to the man. Even if the man did shoot him down, it would be better to face them than to let anyone get their hands on Thunderbird 1._

_"Have you made up your mind yet?" the man said impatiently._

_"Yes, I have," Scott said confidently. "I'm not going to do as you say. In fact you can fire those missiles now." If you have any, Scott thought._

_"If you say so. Prepare to die, Mr Tracy!" Scott's eyes widened as he saw two projectiles launch out of a small ship directly due South to him. He immediately fired up the four booster rockets and pushed Thunderbird 1 to her top speed. He then, while keeping an eye on the monitor in front of him to make sure the missiles weren't getting any closer, called Tracy Island to let them know of the danger._

_"Base from Thunderbird 1. Come in please!"_

_"Reading you loud and clear, Thunderbird 1. What is it, Scott?"_

_"Dad, I'm under attack! Some ship's sent missiles after me!"_

_"Okay, Scott. Keep calm and try to outrun them. They'll run out of fuel eventually. Do you know why they came after you?"_

_"Yeah, but can't it wait until the debrief?"_

_"All right, son." _

_The missiles continued to chase Scott over the Atlantic Ocean. He knew he had to get rid of them soon because he was approaching land. If the missiles exploded over the Caribbean, the area which he was about to fly over now, it could cause panic or injury. _

_Scott groaned as he started to fly over the Dominican Republic and saw the missiles were still chasing him. He had to turn back._

* * *

_As the 115' long rocket-plane took evasive action, the two heat-seeker missiles changed direction and flew right towards the center of the craft. There was a large explosion that rocked the whole ship, damaging most of it. _

_Scott struggled to keep his 'Bird under control but the damage to the main rockets was too great. The reconnaissance ship was soon on a colossal nose-dive into the Atlantic Ocean. Just as Scott thought things couldn't get any worse, he saw two more missiles head his way. The man must want to make sure I'm definitely dead, he thought._

_Knowing there was nothing more he could do, Scott braced himself for the explosion._

Scott groaned as he remembered the impact. Needless to say, it hadn't been too pretty. The initial explosion had damaged everything in the ship that wasn't already out of action, especially the nose cone, which the missiles had hit first. Scott had been right behind it too, and had found himself thrown across the cabin. Whacking his head against a wall, he had passed out, as Thunderbird 1 had, literally, dropped into the ocean. This had caused an even larger explosion, damaging and, in some cases destroying, everything on the ship.

Scott pushed himself up against the wall, trying to get into a more comfortable position. It didn't really help, but at least he was sitting up. He looked over to the hatch the water was seeping in from and checked the water level. It wasn't dangerously high yet, but soon he would be wet and he knew he had to keep checking it. He then checked himself over for injuries. He knew he must have hit his head from the massive killer of a headache it was giving him, and that he had broken his left leg and arm, but he couldn't tell if he had any broken ribs or if he had any internal injuries.

Trying not to aggravate any of his injuries, Scott slowly moved his arm towards his face and said in a quiet voice, "Base from Scott Tracy. Come in please." Unfortunately, this only gave him a coughing fit and not a reply. Probably broken ribs, then.

As the hours slipped by like seconds, he could feel himself becoming more exhausted and the world beginning to spin. Scott knew he probably wouldn't be able to stay awake much longer, but he battled the fatigue nonetheless, knowing that if he went to sleep he might never wake again...

* * *

"International Rescue from Thunderbird 2. Come in please."

"This is International Rescue. What is it, Virgil?"

"Father, I've reached Scott's last communication point. He can't have gone far from here so I'm gonna send Thunderbird 4 down to take a look," Virgil told his father. They had set off around an hour ago, soon after Scott's last call. The comm. link had stayed online even after Scott and Jeff's conversation had ended and they had heard the explosion before the radio had turned off. Everyone listening knew that Scott definitely wouldn't have made it back to Tracy Island. He must have been in trouble and, as Thunderbird 2 had arrived back at Base a few minutes before, had taken Thunderbird 4 and the marine recovery equipment, along with a full medical supply. Tin Tin had begged to go and, for once, Jeff had let her without argument or even hesitation.

Virgil flicked the switch that disengaged the pod and heard the splash below as Pod 4, with Thunderbird 4 in it, hit the water.

* * *

Gordon tried to keep calm as he tried to find his brother. But no matter how hard he tried to distract himself by looking for Scott or making up a light-hearted joke to cheer everyone up, he just couldn't draw his mind away from the fact that someone had shot at his brother. Sure, it had happened before, but Scott had been fine. Some lunatic had actually fired missiles at him this time. The ship must have been badly damaged and Scott had to be seriously injured, or worse.

Just as Gordon was about to turn around and look somewhere else, he saw a flash of metal. Cahelium, to be precise. He smiled and increased his speed. He soon began to see more of his brother's bird... and gasped. A lot of the metal was charred and contorted and the left wing was completely dislocated from the main body. The nose cone was bent over heavily and many of the stabilizing fins of the four booster rockets had broken off. Gordon groaned. Scott wasn't gonna like this, if he was alive, that was.

Placing his fears aside, he approached Thunderbird 1. Wondering how on Earth anyone could have survived what had happened, Gordon changed into his swimming gear and grabbed a laser cutter. He found an extra mask for Scott and opened the airlock.

* * *

"How are you doing, Gordon?" Jeff asked, trying to mask his anxiety underneath professionalism.

"I've just left Thunderbird 4, Dad," his second-youngest son replied. "I can see Thunderbird 1 and she doesn't look too good. The explosion must have been a lot worse than we thought." Jeff nodded gravely.

"Okay, son. Tell me when you reach Thunderbird 1, will you?"

"I've just reached her," he said, surprising Jeff. He hoped Gordon wasn't over-doing it with the swimming. It had only taken him around 20 seconds to get there.

"Well, I've tried both the hatches and they're both jammed," Gordon informed a few minutes later. "I'll have to use the laser cutter."

"Alright, but be careful," Jeff warned, before cutting the comms. link and leaving those at Tracy Island with silence.

* * *

When he finally managed to get into the cockpit, the sight that met Gordon was almost too horrible to describe. Everything was in complete disarray. The pilot's seat was currently half-way across the room and the control boxes seemed to have detached themselves from it to lie in a burning mess on the floor. The walls had been stripped bare and what had once been on them was now covering a very bedraggled looking Scott.

Gordon's eyes widened and he ran over to him. He crouched down and placed two fingers to his brother's neck, sighing in relief when he found a pulse. It was erratic and weak, but he was alive.

Gordon checked his breathing - it was fine - before placing an oxygen mask over his face and getting ready to lift him over to the hole. Water was gushing through it and Gordon had to make sure Scott didn't have any spinal or head injuries before he could move him. He didn't seem to have any back injuries and, apart from the gash on his forehead, it didn't look like he had any head injuries either, so Gordon placed his arms underneath his brother's back and head and carried him over to the exit. He pulled the mask down over his own head and waited for the ship to be completely filled with water. He then swam out again.

* * *

From the moment Scott woke up, he knew something was different. For a start, it was light and warm now; it had been dark and freezing cold in Thunderbird 1. He was lying on a comfortable bed now, with sheets covering him, and not lying on a cold metal floor. He had what felt like an oxygen mask over his face and was finding it much easier to breathe. The pain was a lot better now, although he couldn't say it was bearable. He could hear the heart monitor beeping in time to his heart and he listened to it for a few minutes.

He was interrupted as he heard a door open and someone walk in angrily. Scott initially thought it was Alan, as he was the most hot-headed of the family. He quickly felt very guilty, however, when he realised it wasn't his youngest brother, but Virgil.

"One of these days, Scott! One of these days, I'm gonna kill him! I really am!"

Unable to contain his curiosity and wondering what Gordon's latest prank was, Scott opened his eyes blearily. Even though his vision was foggy somewhat, he could see his brother perfectly and found he couldn't contain his laughter. Virgil's hair had changed from its usual chestnut brown to a baby pink. He burst out laughing. Virgil's eyes widened as he ran up to Scott.

"You're awake!" he said, grinning madly.

"Yep," Scott managed to gasp between laughs. Virgil soon joined in, very relieved and glad his brother had woken up.

Once the two men had managed to get a grip on themselves and stopped their laughing, Virgil realised something.

"I'd better get Brains and Dad. They'll want to know..."

"Know what, son?" Jeff asked, on walking into the room. His eyes widened when he saw Scott. "Scott, you're awake," he stated with a grin. He strided across to beside Scott's bed and sat on the seat next to it.

"Last time I looked," Scott said, smiling.

"So, h-how are y-y-you, uh, feeling now, Scott?" Brains stuttered from across the room. Scott hadn't even realised he was there.

"I'm fine," Scott said dismissively. Jeff and Virgil both raised their eyebrows and looked at each other simultaneously. Scott looked at them both and sighed.

"You know me too well. Okay, I'm in a _bit_ of pain."

"Understatement," Virgil muttered under his breath.

"What d'ya mean?"

"Well, you were pretty badly bashed about in that crash," Virgil explained, motioning to the bandages, which Scott hadn't noticed until now, that were covering most of his body. "You broke several bones in your left arm and leg; gained quite a few burns from the explosion; broke four ribs, cracked your skull and your collarbone..."

"Okay, Virgil. Scott gets the picture," Jeff interrupted, giving his eldest son a sparing glance. Scott smiled gratefully in return. Virgil would have probably gone on for hours otherwise.

"Sorry," Virgil apologised. "I guess I'm just glad we found you in time."

"Yeah, me too," Scott agreed. "About that, how did you get me and Thunderbird 1 out?"

"Well, you have Gordon to thank for rescuing you," Jeff replied. "He went down in Thunderbird 4 and swam over to you."

"Dad, how did you get Thunderbird 1 out?" Scott asked fearfully, a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Well, Scott, before I tell you, there's something I need to say. Thunderbird 1 was already badly damaged by the time we got there. We just needed to get her out of there so that no-one else would find her..."

"Dad," Scott interrupted. "Just tell me."

Jeff and Virgil looked at each other awkwardly.

* * *

Outside, lounging beside the pool, were Alan, Gordon and Tin Tin. It was quiet and peaceful with the exception of a tropical bird chirping from a nearby tree. The Sun was shining brightly, warming them and lightening their moods at such a time. They were all extremely worried about Scott but glad of the rest and relaxation.

Suddenly, they heard a yell from one of the rooms in the Tracy Villa.

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

Alan and Tin Tin jumped from their deck chairs in surprise and looked at each other.

"I think our eldest brother is awake," Gordon stated.

"Yeah," Alan agreed. "And by the sounds of it, he's heard what happened to Thunderbird 1."

**So, what did you think? I have kept the last bit because I liked it. Please review and tell me what you thought. By the way, I am still doing Twinned Reality but I haven't written the chapter yet. I should soon though. Happy Easter!**

**Lulu303**


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